


After Time

by RosebudBasilton



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Kayleigh Lives AU, LOVE!!, Mentions of alcoholism, More comfort than hurt, a lot of mistakes were made and kevin just wants a nap, idk what other tags dude, the happiest fucking ending i swear to chrysler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 16:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16998927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosebudBasilton/pseuds/RosebudBasilton
Summary: what if kayleigh showed up out of nowhere -- alive after all that time?the answer is, kevin would cry. a lot.





	After Time

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this v quickly and with not a huge amount of editing and bc tumblr is crappingbitself i figured i would just dumped a shitload of headcanons in here and let the world take them. also idk where i read Wymack being a recovered alcoholic but yeah it's in there TW.
> 
> also also if kayleigh's story sounds at all unrealistic, do remember that this book series is really about sports mafia. plus if riverdale can do whatever the shit they're doing rn im gonna die on this hill and post this, no beta

Andrew observed the way Kevin shovelled sugary cereal into his mouth with a disgusted face and wondered how the universe was going to ruin his day this time.

"Do I want to know?" He asked, pulling a cup out of the cupboard for coffee.

"Bad day," Kevin answered, his voice sounding off. His accent sounded like it was syrup slipping down a slide.

Andrew sipped his coffee and sat down next to Kevin. "So bad, you turned Irish?"

"That's the one."

Kevin's tone was so downcast. The cereal was changing the colour of the milk and he was still slurping it from the spoon. Andrew almost wanted to comfort him, but the thought was fleeting and almost irrational.

"What happened?" Andrew asked, not all that interested in the response.

Kevin stopped everything he was doing and stared into his bowl of gloop. "Kayleigh Day was found alive," he admitted.

Now Andrew was listening.

"They stopped her while she was on her way to Palmetto," Kevin explained. "According to her current story, the car crash had put her into a coma and a Moriyama insider had wrongfully pronounced her dead. After she woke up she was just thrown in a prison cell, no reason needed. When the sentence was up, she'd been randomly assessed for mental stability and had been misdiagnosed with delusions and and DID because she insisted she was Kayleigh Day -- but Kayleigh Day was dead. I think she just played along with their fake version of event until she got out, I don't know."

Kevin drained the whole bowl into his mouth and Andrew swore he was trying to choke. Slowly, the two of them came to neutral position at the table and surveyed what lay before them.

"I could always kill her," Andrew suggested. "Make sure it's done this time."

"That's my mum, prick," Kevin snarled.

"I couldn't get a read on your emotions and assumed we were heading towards another car crash deal."

Kevin huffed and slumped, chin hitting the table's edge at a force that would make anyone else gasp. Apparently he was too sad to notice.

Andrew didn't like that at all. "What are you going to do?" He asked.

"Go and see her, I guess," Kevin answered, unenthusiastic. "Without Wymack, because he'd pissed off."

 _What?_ "Why?"

Only two tears made an appearance on Kevin's cheeks, sobless, breathless. "When isn't he blaming me for Kayleigh Day's mistakes?"

 _Kayleigh Day's mistake_. Andrew's teeth clenched at the conviction in Kevin's voice.

"Can I kill _him?_ " Andrew asked, making Kevin smile. The anger in Andrew's chest unfurled just slightly.

"I appreciate the thought," he said softly. "You can com with me to see her, if you like. I'm taking my girlfriend, may as well take my boyfriend, too."

Andrew frowned. "I'm not your boyfriend."

Kevin smiled again. "But you're more of a boyfriend to me than anyone else is."

 

 

×

 

 

Andrew liked Thea, because she was equally as willing to throw hands with anyone for Kevin's sake as Andrew was. When they saw each other in the airport, the first thing she asked was, "do you think there's a good explanation to this?"

To which Andrew replied, "my mind is open."

Thea's face was stony and cold as she said, "I don't think mine is."

Andrew liked that answer.

Kevin was passed out in the back of the car, having been woken and dragged there in the morning, pre-alarm. Thea sat with him and woke him gently, baffling Andrew, who had never seen Kevin do anything gently.

"Hey," she whispered. "Good morning. Are you hungover?"

"No," Andrew replied for hi. "I dried out the dorm and made sure he didn't drink last night."

Kevin nodded along, leaning into Thea and settling comfortably on her shoulder. The softness of it made Andrew think about Neil, how he would have woken up without Andrew to say _good morning_ to, no kiss before he went on a run.

That part of Andrew was quickly locked up. Sleep deprivation was wild.

"Andrew," Thea beckoned. "Hey, how long 'til we get there? I don't mean to be a pain, but breakfast might need to be penciled into the itinerary."

"You're right," Andrew said simply, and turned into a conveniently positioned McDonald's drive-thru. "We have an hour and a half left."

Thea nodded, cuddling back into Kevin and making Andrew a certain kind of envious that he hated. He didn't want to feel that way, but a side-effect of recovery was -- apparently -- missing Neil.

"I know Kevin's order," Andrew stated, letting Thea figure out the question.

"I'll have the same, whatever it is," she answered. "It's too early to be thinking."

Those two really were the same person, deep down.

Andrew made the order and grimaced any time he said or heard 'sausage', because it's a gross feeling word with gross feeling sounds. Thea smiled at him, though, and was treating him like a person, and as Andrew stumbled over to third iteration of _sausage_ , he realised he felt a certain kind of comfortable with Thea that he only recognised with Renee.

 _Friends_. How strange.

"Thank you, Andrew," Thea said, grabbing two identical orders and two different coffees, passing them to a suddenly content Kevin. "I'll pay you back."

"It's breakfast, Thee," Andrew replied. "Don't worry about it."

The nickname had just slipped out. Andrew had listen to Kevin talk about Thea under a range of aliases (babe, hon, sweetheart) but _Thee_ had always been the front runner. Andrew didn't smile back, but Thea was already talking to Kevin about her shitty university friends.

( _Friends_ was probably a strong word. Thea had flatted with 2 of them once -- a grade school teacher in training and something close to a Bachelor in Veganism -- and had very nearly gauged her eyes out when she realised these people had no initiative or problem-solving skills. That was the only time Thea ever took a loan from Kevin; to buy a good, long-term apartment for herself and never live with fellow students again. Thea paid him back the minute she got paid again and moved in as soon as was possible.)

Andrew took occasional bites out of his sausage McMuffin and pitched in on the conversation when he saw fit, welcomed and appreciated. He realised then that his and Kevin's friendship was stronger than he first thought. The thought warmed him.

When they arrived at the hotel Kayleigh Day was staying in, Andrew noticed Wymack's car parked across the road. _Heathen_ , he thought, as he requested valet parking.

Kevin was non-responsive and clinging to Thea, who was pressing small kisses on his shoulder. Each one seemed to make him smile a little bit more.

"Where do you want us?" Andrew asked. "We can stay here--"

"No," Kevin answered, panicked.

"Do you want us there in the room with her?" Thea asked.

Kevin nodded. "Until I say it's okay."

"Good idea."

Andrew watched the way Thea encouraged Kevin and noticed how it was practiced. He'd always pinned Thea for observant.

Andrew was observant, to be fair. He just didn't really care about what he observed.

Where Neil needed reality checks and a stable force to keep him present and accounted for, Kevin had always appreciated more open gestures of affection. Kind words and small actions of comfort -- he needed something sure and solid to lean on while the rest of the world didn't make sense.

Reviewing the ways in which Kevin was treated by the team, Andrew was suddenly glad he had Thea to tell him the world was still spinning.

"We won't let anyone hurt you," he said in lieu of kind words. He supposed the words were kind, but the implication of danger wasn't.

It would have to do.

Kevin's tattoo alone got him up to Kayleigh's room, where the three of them stood outside and listened to the screaming match of two ex-lovers, two childless parents. Kevin didn't seem panicked as much as he was sad.

"I don't deny that Wymack is a good man," he said, "but I can understand why Kayleigh might not have wanted him around because of his temper."

"Why's that?" Andrew asked.

"I've heard them do this before. A few times. They made me go play in the garden while they screamed about Tetsuji and alcohol and Exy." Kevin sighed. "Love a family reunion."

Thea was hugging him from the side. Hearing how strained it sounded in there, how nostalgic Kevin must have been feeling, Andrew held his hand and squeezed it twice.

"The first sign of trouble and I'm pulling out the knives," Andrew grumbled, which made Kevin smile, which made Andrew feel a little bit safer, opening the door.

The yelling stopped as two sets of afire eyes rounded on the trio. Kevin stepped forward, kept stepping forward, until he was in his mother's arms, breaking down crying.

"What happened?" He asked miserably. "Where were you?"

Kayleigh hiccupped and held her son's face. "I was never supposed to leave you, bumblebee," she told him. "Just let that tide you over until I can tell you all of it with some evidence. Know that I missed you and I wanted to hold you again, everyday."

With the way Kevin crushed Kayleigh in his embrace, Andrew had to look away. Thoughts of Cass and a life he couldn't have appeared too quickly.

Thea turned to him. "Okay?" She whispered.

"I need a minute," Andrew choked out, too quiet to disturb the room. "Make sure no one kills anyone."

A small smile and a passing of a single lollipop -- how? Why? -- from Thea gave Andrew permission leave.

He'd thought this would happen. As he struggled to unwrap the lollipop with shaking hands, still confused as to why Thea had given it to him, he recounted all of the thoughts he'd had that said 'this is a bad idea!'.

Cass. The mother he couldn't have. Grief was a crazy thing and Andrew defended his right to be upset. He'd never had anyone put so much faith into him. He'f never made anyone so proud. For a long time, Cass was the only person that Andrew had ever been friends with (technically speaking). It ached to not have a second chance with her. She had always been alive and Andrew was never going to get a second chance with her like Kevin would with his supposed-to-be (supposedly) dead mother.

The lollipop did help. It's artificial flavour was a welcome distraction to everything going on in the room behind him.

When he'd caught his breath, he slipped back inside to another, less explosive, argument. Kevin sat in the middle, utterly miserable. Thea watched him warily from across the room. Andrew sat beside Thea and held her wrist loosely, hoping she wouldn't think him a freak.

That caught Kevin's attention. He mouthed _okay?_ to Andrew, and Andrew lied when he nodded.

"I did it to protect you!" Kayleigh burst out, frightening everyone in the room except for Kevin. "And -- you know what? For Kevin's sake as well. You know how my family is with alcoholics--"

"I got better!"

"How was I supposed to justify taking that risk with my son as the bargaining chip, David?!"

Kevin sat back and crossed his arms, apparently bored with the proceedings. It made Andrew smile, which made Kevin smile, which made the old (un)married couple quit their bickering for a moment.

"Kevin, honey, is something funny?" Kayleigh asked, much like a parent. Andrew got whiplash realising she was the same person who had been screaming as they'd walked in.

"You're both wrong and neither one of you is bothering to understand each other, so I think you should both just cut your losses and go to bed."

Andrew smiled harder. He genuinely did like Kevin when he had a backbone, even when it's was in the disguise of his TV persona.

Kayleigh's mouth opened as she went to reprimand him, but probably realised Kevin was right and sat back in her seat. Wymack sat defeated.

"Mum, you had your reasons," Kevin added, "and there isn't exactly a handbook on how to get out of a Yakuza investment with entire family. I also think you did the right thing, not letting an alcoholic parent a child. However, dad had a right to know, danger or not. He got better. You could have taken that risk later on and kept tabs on him, and still let me have a dad.

"Wymack, you need to not dismiss Kayleigh's anxieties about the Yakuza. Whether the threats were real or not, she was attempting to save as many people as possible, and you are the _last_ person to be telling someone that that isn't necessary."

Kevin sighed and turned to Andrew and Thea. "My emergency anxiety meds just kicked in," he giggled. "I'm basically tranquilized."

Kevin's parents levelled each other over the coffee table, in the shadow of their son's drugged wisdom. They pursed their lips and didn't speak, until Wymack stood up and walked out the door.

Kevin shook his head. "No one likes constructive criticism."

"You're a troublemaker, bumblebee," Kayleigh sighed, sitting next him amd stroking her thumb over the tattoo that Wymack had taken Kevin to get. "He's a good man. He just...wasn't always a safe man."

Kevin held her hand. "I don't blame you, but you know you should have told him."

Kayleigh sighed tearfully. "I do."

"Can I hear what happened now?"

Kayleigh huffed again. "It'll sound like bullshit if I don't have the medical records to prove it," she explained reluctantly. "I swear I didn't just abandon you to live out in the country. I actually do love you."

Were Thea and Andrew still there? They didn't seem to be so present when Kevin was cuddling into his mother's side, probably the same way he'd yearned for over the years. Andrew looked up at Thea and saw her soft eyes and reminiscent smile.

"Mind still open?" He asked.

"So, so closed," she answered. "Lie detector's on you, boo."

Andrew nodded, but he thought he already knew the answer.

×

As it happened, the original tale of events that Kevin had drawled out over his cereal the day before were all true. A murder was too hard to clean up, apparently, but homicide was easy to fake in the eyes of a crime family with connections.

The three of them returned to Palmetto after Kevin's medication crashed and left him fatigued and anxious again. Kayleigh had held his intrusive thoughts at bay for long enough, but Kevin was hard to manage when he was crashing. Thea sat with him in the back seat and kept him comforted for the full 2 hour drive back. Andrew kept a careful eye on them for any sign to pull over, but Kevin managed the whole trip.

When they arrived back at the tower, Neil came out to see them. He was either pissed off, or the sun was in his eyes.

"Hey," he called to Andrew. "Everything okay?"

Andrew threw the keys at Neil and walked right into his space. _Sun_. "Not exactly," he answered. "Yes or no?"

"Yes."

Andrew kissed Neil once ( _good morning_ ), twice, ( _have a good run_ ), thrice ( _you're back and I missed you_ ), and once more, because it had been a big morning.

"Happy to see me?" Neil grinned, holding Andrew just so, making sure he could leave if he wanted to.

Andrew hummed in agreement and kissed Neil again. "You're not going to love what happened this morning," Andrew warned lazily. "Leave Kevin out of it, though, he had to play mediator for his parents."

"Parents?!"

"Oh, you _are_ behind."

 

 

×

 

 

As it turned out, Neil was _not_ loving what had happened that morning. No one was. Nicky had taken to angrily baking sugar cookies for Kevin (gift or punishment?) while the team sat around the old Monsters' dorm and tried to moralise.

Kevin was sat on the couch, dazed and non-responsive. He was holding Thea, by his own request, idly listening to his team talk about his family with some disdain.

Dan was furious. "When does Wymack get a break from this bullshit?!" She exclaimed.

 _Thanks_ , Kevin thought bitterly.

"Kevin's had 'this bullshit' his entire life," Aaron argued with a snap to his tone that was growing familiar. "At least try to acknowledge he's in the room."

Dan nodded. "Sorry, Kevin," she said, defeated. Kevin didn't respond. "I just don't know what to think."

Andrew leaned forward at that. "It's not a matter of assigning blame and choosing a villain," he explained. "Kevin said, when he was in the middle of their screaming match, that both of them were suffering. Kayleigh had to raise a kid on her own, Wymack didn't get know about Kevin. Kayleigh was dead to the world and tortured in a Moriyama dungeon hospital, and Wymack finds out 2 years after Kevin joins his team that they're related. They were both in the wrong, though, with the alcoholism and the deception, and they both have a right to be angry. Aaron is right. Kevin's never been able to get away from this and it's always burdened him, so what we do now will be conscious of the fact that this is his family and we will all respect that."

Belatedly, Kevin realised it was out of character for Andrew to be talking about respect, but Andrew had stopped being outwardly callous with Kevin. He was softer, now, making Kevin feel safe and secure. It was a welcome change, but Kevin understood that it may not last.

He squeezed Thea's hand and sighed. "I don't take sides," he said. "Not here, that would just make more problems. I just...I stand by my mom, because I do genuinely believe her and love her, but she doesn't have anyone else. Wymack will go back to Abby and he'll have us, always, but my mom just has me. She doesn't have a life here, or anywhere, anymore. I don't think she's right in justifying lying to Wymack, not at all. I'm just not going to abandon her."

"What about Wymack?" Allison asked lightly. The room was heavy with Kevin's admittance.

That was a loaded question. "Even if it wasn't his fault, I don't think I missed out, having an alcoholic dad. If he were the way he is now, it would be a different story. He doesn't have the right to tell mom that she should have taken that chance on him. My granddad was the anomaly in a long line of abusive and alcoholic fathers in our family -- he put an end to it. My grandparents wouldn't have let Wymack see me, even if he _did_ know.

"There aren't victims and villains, just victims of circumstance and anxiety and the Yakuza. Wymack is a good man. I believe my mother is a good woman."

This sat uncomfortably with the team, but no comments were made because with time and processing, it all began to make sense. Andrew held Neil's wrist and nodded to Kevin, as the realisation that there was no clear answer to all of this came into view.

Nicky stomped into the lounge and dumped fresh sugar cookies on the table. The conversation was, for the moment, dropped.

 

 

×

 

 

The next obstacle to handle was practice. Kevin showed up, despite all the warnings going off in his head, and was greeted by the Foxes all giving him scared, weary looks.

Kayleigh Day was standing next David Wymack.

Only Nicky was the one to say, " _now_ I see the family resemblance."

He was promptly shut up by Andrew and Aaron at the same time.

" _Kayleigh_ ," Wymack said with some weight, "has kindly offered to take today's practice. In light of recent _events_...it will be a less intense practice than you're used to."

Kayleigh smiled at Kevin, small and secret, and Kevin smiled back. _That's my mum_ , he thought. _That's her!_

"Everyone ready to warm-up?" She asked.

Half of the team gawked at her accent. Neil, Andrew, and Kevin all simply nodded. Aaron had not been listening, and turned his head to give a face of complaint.

"Laps! 10 of them! Nice and easy!" She instructed. Kevin remembered her instructing one of his little league teams, how excited he had been to show off his mum to all of his teammates, and smiled. Times hadn't changed too much, then.

As they all ran, Kevin let his mind go somewhere else. All of this was starting to feel real and it was quickly overwhelming him. He thought about what he wpuld do when he got back to the dorm, when all of this was over. He could have a long, hot shower with Thea and they could talk about the day ahead of them. He could get into some comfy clothes and curl up in bed with a mug of coffee, watch the Winter rain turn ugly and enjoy it. Thea could work on her thesis, sure, but Kevin would prefer her to be with him, in bed. Realistically, it would probably be a mix of both.

Laps ended and the team was instructed to sit on the court while they awaited instructions. Kevin noted that Wymack wasn't there and his heart ached.

"Okay, full disclosure," Kayleigh began, which only spelt trouble, "I can't do scrimmages or half-courts with you lot today."

Only Neil was upset enough to whine. Kevin knew better than to complain to his mother about that.

"I know, bud, but we'll definitely do it tomorrow," she amended. " _Apparently_ , I play it a bit old-school."

"What does that mean?" Dan asked.

"Well, we used to call it _Murder-Crosse_ , because the first time we played it, my brother was sent to hospital with a few broken ribs."

"Is that why he's... _like that?_ " Kevin asked. Kayleigh silently questioned him. "He has next to 0 emotions and he once threw a dead skull at me."

Kayleigh conceded. "At least it was dead," she grinned.

Only Andrew seemed compelled enough to ask where the skull had come from.

"You see, dear goalie," Kayleigh began, "Kevin can speak to ghosts, even though ghosts aren't real."

Kevin went to protest, but was overtaken by, "Tell us baby Kevin stories!" from Renee. Traitor.

"Oh, I will. Before I was dead, I was the most embarrassing mum you could ever wish for."

"I would still like to know about the dead body," Andrew prompted.

"Oh! Right, so, scratch what I said before. We wanted to clear out under the deck of our garden so we could use it to store our gardening supplies, but we found a whole load of junk down there that I wasn't prepared to move. So, I called my brother Marcus -- Kev's uncle -- and asked him to move it for me in exchange for some food from our garden. He got halfway through it before he came across a skull and, I kid you not, said 'oh, yuck' in exact monotone and threw it at little 4 year old Kevin."

Everyone laughed except Andrew, who seemed amused enough, and Kevin, who was glaring playfully at his mum. _His mum!_ "It was cruel," he said.

"It was an accident! He didn't see you!"

"Why were you standing there?" Neil asked through his giggling.

"Oh, little Kev was just helping," Kayleigh explained. "He was so happy to see his uncle. Then a skull hit him, and he screamed and cried for hours. Inconsolable."

"Nothing's changed," Kevin quipped, to the joy of the rest of the team, who had all been thinking the same thing.

Kayleigh demonstrated a few stretches for everyone to follow and reiterated the idea that the practice would be about losing tension and regaining focus.

It wasn't long until someone thought of another thing to ask.

"Can Kevin really talk to ghosts?" Dan prompted.

Kayleigh chuckled but stopped when she saw Kevin's expression. "Oh, I'm in trouble."

"It was real and terrifying," he defended, jokingly but almost serious.

"I don't deny that it was scary, bumblebee, I just don't think there were ghosts living in our windows. I think you had sleep paralysis and an overactive imagination."

Kevin pretended to fume. He loved this, having banter with his mum. It helped, as well, that the team was finally making fun of him while he was in on the joke, because Kevin was a strange, strange child.

"Okay, _but_ ," Kevin countered, "I don't deny that it was sleep paralysis. However, I looked into the history of that house and the same people I had sleep paralysis nightmares about -- the woman and the two girls -- appear in every single file of the families that lived in that house. I couldn't have known that when I was a kid."

Kayleigh paused. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yes! There was a couple who lived there for only 5 years before they _supposedly_ skipped town with all of their belongings and no notice to anyone of their family, but we had a house worth of stuff that wasn't ours under our deck and two dead bodies."

Kayleigh looked horrified as the memories of that spring clean came back to her. She muttered something about Kevin being right, which made Kevin smile, which made no difference to the rest of the team who were as horrified as you could be.

"What the fuck?!" Aaron exclaimed. "You-- _what?!_ "

 

 

×

 

 

After practice was over and the team was all giggling their way out, Kevin snuck away from the lockers and headed to Wymack's office.

Knocking twice, Kevin made sure Kayleigh wasn't around. Wymack offered him entrance and sighed at the sight of him. "Sit," he said.

Kevin did. "I just wanted to see how you are," he explained. "I was out of line yesterday and I'm sorry. I still... You're still my dad. Right?"

It was becoming more and more clear to Kevin that keeping both of his parents happy was going to be a struggle, but he had to try. The idea of leaving one for the other... No, Kevin wouldn't let that happen.

"Kid, I'm always your dad," Wymack said, offering a sad smile. "This is a lot, but I appreciate what you said yesterday. You're right, we need to be adults about this. Thank you for reminding me what maturity looks like."

Kevin was so relieved and overwhelmed that he had tears forming in his eyes. He stood up to leave, but Wymack stood too, arms open. It took a lot of restraint for Kevin not to run to him, but they hugged nonetheless.

"I am so proud of who you've become," Wymack whispered.

"I love you," Kevin replied.

Wymack held tighter.

 

 

×

 

 

When Kevin got back from practice, he'd already showered and was emotionally exhausted from being pulled between his parents. The moment he walked into the dorm, Thea was up and making coffee for everyone. They met in the kitchen and crowded each other's space, hands held, legs touching.

"You don't have to take care of us," Kevin finally said with a grin. "Thank you, though."

Thea hummed. "I was going to say 'don't get used to it,'"  she told him. "Figured you'd be tired after practice."

"Funny thing about practice -- it basically didn't happen. It was just a brief recap of my childhood through Kayleigh Day's anecdotes. We weren't doing normal practice because everything is... _going on_."

Thea pouted. "I wanted to hear about baby Kevin," she grumbled petulantly.

Kevin smile and continued to finish making coffee, picking up some cookies as he did so. "I'll tell you."

"No, no," Andrew interjected from outside of the kitchen. Neither Thea nor Kevin knew he was there. "You will _not_. You won't capture the embarrassment in those stories, so it has to be either one of us, or Kayleigh Day herself."

Thea fizzed with excitement. Kevin did not.

"I want to keep my relationship," Kevin moaned.

Andrew raised one eyebrow. "I'm still going to be your boyfriend." Neil looked up from his phone, bewildered. Andrew only continued. "Come along, Thea. Kevin can speak to ghosts."

 

 

×

 

 

Jumping between Kayleigh's hotel and Wymack's apartment, trying to keep everyone happy and the world at peace, Kevin wondered if it had to be this hard. As his Uber (Andrew) pulled into the Tower's carpark, he realised this was the first time he'd been wanted by people.

Neither one or them moved when Andrew cut the engine.

"Okay?" Andrew asked.

Was he? It ached in his heart to say it, but he was tired of being the prize for two adults he barely knew. He could call them his parents and mock-up a childhood, but at the end of the day he would still be missing something too big to replace.

Andrew was rubbing his shoulder. In the time he took introspecting, Kevin had begun crying. He was confused, because he didn't know why or when it happened, but now he was rolling down a hill of emotions and couldn't see it ending anytime soon.

"Do you want me to stay?" Andrew asked.

Kevin nodded.

"Okay."

The two of them waited it out and let the storm pass on it's own time. Andrew slung an arm around Kevin (his own form of progress) and didn't say anything as Kevin got it all out. It was ugly and horrifying, but Andrew had seen it all before. This time, his heart was softer. Kevin couldn't have controlled any of this.

"What do you want for dinner?" Andrew asked.

Kevin sniffed, calm now. "I'll pass," he answered.

"No. I'll make you a sandwich. You haven't eaten anything but 4 sugar cookies and a gross smoothie today."

Kevin wiped his eyes and smiled at Andrew. "Thanks. Like, for everything. Thank you."

"Shut up," Andrew grumbled in lieu of _It's okay_.

 

 

×

 

 

Evening practice was much the same as the morning, only Kevin was less responsive, more tired. Matt had quietly asked Kayleigh why she called Kevin 'bumblebee', and she had taken note of how miserable Kevin looked and just given Matt a knowing smile.

"Okay," Kayleigh sighed. "You're all done, hit the showers."

She watched them all leave, biting her lip, and lunged out to grab Kevin wrist just before he left the court. Andrew noticed and leaned back against the plexiglass, guarding.

"You alright?" She checked.

Kevin nodded but didn't speak. When he was younger, that was a clear sign that he was nervous, but Kayleigh couldn't keep acting like he hadn't changed in 14 years.

"You don't look alright, love," she told him. Kevin didn't even look at her, fiddling with his gloves. "If you told me you're tired, I'd believe you."

It had always been a good idea to give Kevin an out when he was a child. Sometimes, he didn't know what to say that would just allow him to move on with his day with nought more than a cuddle and a glass of juice. Kayleigh suspected that a similar thing was happening, but she didn't think juice would help this time.

"Bumble, listen -- you're tiring yourself out with all of this diplomacy between your father and I. David told me how desperately you've been keeping tabs on him, the same way you have with me, but you don't need to do that. We know you love us, and we love you back. So much. Right now, though, we need to sort out our shit between the two of us. You've been brilliant, but take tomorrow off. I'll call you about meeting up for lunch sometime soon. Okay?"

Kevin visibly relaxed, smiling, because Kevin was nothing Kayleigh remembered of him without his smile. "Thank you."

"I love you," Kayleigh added.

 

 

×

 

 

Thea observed the private conversation Andrew was having with Kevin from across the kitchen with a grin only Kevin could see. She had never been sure if she could trust Andrew to treat Kevin well, given the one-sided stories she'd been told over the phone. Watching how Andrew hovered around Kevin as the situation grew stickier, though, Thea could sense safety within their friendship. Whether it had been an active change in Andrew's behaviour or not, Thea was just glad that Kevin had people to keep him comforted while his world crumbled at the edges.

She touched Kevin's arm as she passed him to make a cup of hot cocoa. The two men let her into the space with a small hug from Kevin and light brush of fingertips across her arm. Andrew was trying to get her attention.

"Me too?" He asked.

Thea nodded and set another mug out. Two arms wound around her middle and held her close and Kevin kissed her neck as Thea passed Andrew a mug of cocoa. She felt like her mother, at the end of a working day, with her dad holding her as she made dinner. She would pass Thea pieces of chopped vegetables. The thought comforted her as she leaned back into Kevin's arms. They were alone, then, and Thea was feeling soft.

"I want to marry you," she whispered. "I want to live with you forever."

Kevin closed his eyes and sank forward to Thea with a sigh. "I want that, too."

 

 

×

 

 

It wasn't certain how it came to be, but family sat around a room with each other and shared dinner and stories of fond memories. Kevin sat on the couch between Thea and Wymack, leaning his head on his father's shoulder and laughing at the tale Dan was telling the team about her first date with Matt.

She was leaning against Abby as she spoke, who wore a subtle ring on her left hand and quiet smile to Wymack.

"Matt, you spilled your drink on me and shoved a napkin into my face!" Dan laughed, sipping her wine. "You were not smooth!"

"I was smooth _in training_ ," Matt defended.

Andrew and Neil, in a rare occasion, were separated on opposite ends of the room. They spoke silently and fondly to one another, but Andrew and Aaron lay against either side of Kayleigh Day, cuddling the former and holding the hand of the latter. She smiled and laughed, speaking privately with Abby about the upcoming wedding and the team's most recent season. The twins were both dozing off on her.

Kevin watched the room with such a calm feeling surrounding him. He leaned back into his dad's hold and tilted his head up to him. "Can you pass me a cookie?" He asked. "Please?"

Wymack did so and ran a hand through Kevin's hair.

"Hey, Kay," Nicky piped up. "You never did tell us why Kevin's nickname is _bumblebee_."  
  
Groaning, Kevin shifted to press his face into Wymack's shoulder.

"Oh! I have pictures!" Kayleigh cheered, jumping up and running to grab them before Kevin could protest. The twins both fell onto each other with a considerable amount of grumbling between them.

She came back just as quickly and settled back between her Minyards, passing photos to the two of them to gawk at. Aaron could barely contain his excitement, whereas Andrew _actually laughed_.

"When bumble was just a baby," Kayleigh began, "about 2 years old, he started ballet lessons down at the local community centre. Now, he was hopeless at it, always was, but he loved it so much. I'd never seen him so happy as when he was dancing with no coordination. Around a year later, for his birthday, I decided to take a gamble and buy him a shitty $2 dollar shop tutu, bright yellow, and give to him for his birthday. I kid you not, he screamed when he saw it.

"He wore it _everywhere_ , I'm not kidding. Ballet classes, grandparents house, church, the supermarket -- and he always wore it with a pair of black pants because he said he liked to look like a bumblebee. People around town used to tell him he looked like a little bee as well and he just used to beam at it! He was so sweet!

"He kept it on for about 2 years before he went to his first little league try-out for Exy. When he got there -- still wearing the damn thing -- some of the older boys started laughing at him for it. I'd never seen him so upset. He took it off and wentnfor his tryout and we never saw him in it again."

The room went up in a chorus of ' _aww_ 's. Thea gave Kevin the most pitiful look and rubbed his shin as the photos made their way around the room: one of Kevin one the day he got his tutu (smiling up at his mum with an ice-cream in his hands), and another of him -- wearing the tutu -- sitting on Wymack's lap, reading a book called _Meg and Mog_ (with Wymack grinning down at Kevin as he pointed to something on the page).

Wymack smiled at the two photos as they landed in his hands at the same time. Kevin pointed to the full head of hair he used to have and giggled.

Across the room, Andrew subtly snapped a photo of the two of them on his phone and requested the photos to return to Kayleigh. When she had them again and was smiling fondly at the memories, Andrew showed her the side-by-side comparison of the second picture.

"Oh, you angel," she praised, kissing Aaron's head in substitution for Andrew's. "Look at them, aye?"

Wymack and Kevin were laughing at something Thea was saying, looking more alike than ever.

"Some things time can't touch."

**Author's Note:**

> WATCH me orphan this fic out of anxiety JUST YOU WAIT
> 
> also i literally love wymack but hey sometimes people have flaws and pasts and we still love them, aint that crazy????? how people???? are more complex than a black and white mentality ha ha wow


End file.
